When I spoke to Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas earlier this month at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, the discussion of scaling things back with their next film came up. After all, when it hits theaters next summer, “The Dark Knight Rises” will mark the third blockbuster in a row for Hollywood’s wunderkind.
You can stretch it back to “Batman Begins” if you want, seeing as “The Prestige” was hardly a modest independent, given the period trappings. So call it five in a row.
Back when Leonardo DiCaprio was developing his Howard Hughes biopic, “The Aviator,” with director Michael Mann, Nolan had his own project in development. Mann opted out of tackling another biopic after “The Insider” and “Ali” and DiCaprio asked his then recent professional acquaintance, Martin Scorsese, to take over the project.